Teenage Fanclub/Jad Fair : Near To You

An inspired collaboration between Scotland's premiere hookmeisters and America's most idiosyncratic - and enduring - underground talent. Apparently, Jad's been hanging out in Glasgow quite a bit recently with his old buddies, crashing at Norman Blake's house and exhibiting his weird primitivist art in a local dental practice.

Out of the inevitable veteran-musician-comaraderie jam sessions came these tracks (and a forthcoming album), notable not only for their playful spontaneity but for the unlikely ease with which the [a]Teenage Fanclub[/a]' classicism blends with Jad's eccentricity. Katrina Mitchell from The Pastels pounds the skins and adds sweet harmonies to 'Near To You', while super-cute b-side 'Always In My Heart' plays like an uncommonly relaxed [a]Lou Reed[/a].